No matter what happens in the Kentucky Derby, one outcome is guaranteed. The winning horse will be related to Native Dancer.
All 20 horses in this year’s race are descendants of this massive thoroughbred, who died in 1967. Though he did not win the Derby — he lost by a head in 1953 — several generations of deliberate breeding have made Native Dancer’s DNA the most valuable commodity in racing.
The last 13 Kentucky Derby winners have been descendants, as was the last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed. The world’s best current racehorse, Curlin, is a relative, as is Cigar, the sport’s all-time money leader. Breeders say Native Dancer’s bloodline can be found in about 75 percent of all U.S. thoroughbreds.
His bloodline consistently produces precocious, speedy thoroughbreds that dominate the Derby and other Triple Crown events — giving owners a safer return on their investments. But that success has led breeders to mate Native Dancer’s progeny so often that the thoroughbred gene pool has shrunk. And as it shrinks, another trait of the Native Dancer line is becoming more pronounced.
Like hemophilia in the Russian royal family, Native Dancer’s line has a tragic flaw. Thanks in part to heavily muscled legs and a violent, herky-jerky running style, Native Dancer and his descendants have had trouble with their feet.
Injuries have cut short the careers of several of his most famous kin, most notably Barbaro, a great-great-great-grandson who was injured during the 2006 Preakness Stakes and was later put to death.
Overbreeding has exacerbated the problem.
“There’s a lack of durability right now,” says Ric Waldman, the former head of operations for Windfields Farm in Canada, which has bred and raced Native Dancer’s descendants. “We’re dealing with the law of diminishing returns.”
Native Dancer was born in 1950 and raised near Baltimore by playboy heir Alfred Vanderbilt.
The young stallion racked up a string of wins, but the race he is most remembered for is the only race he ever lost: the 1953 Kentucky Derby. After getting bumped by other horses during an early turn, Native Dancer dropped to the back of the pack. He staged a furious comeback but finished second.
Native Dancer went on to win the Preakness and Belmont. TV Guide named him one of the nation’s top three television stars of 1953, along with Ed Sullivan and Alfred Godfrey, but foot and lower leg injuries forced him to retire in 1954.
He spent the rest of his years being hired out as a sire. He fathered 247 children, including several champions.
If Native Dancer’s line has any competition, it comes from the family of Nasrullah, a British stallion that was born in 1940. His line includes Seattle Slew and Secretariat, who set speed records at the Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1973 that still stand.
There’s a gathering threat to Native Dancer’s dynasty. Some owners are looking elsewhere for talent, heading off to farms in Zimbabwe and Uruguay in search of new blood. Some of these new genetic combinations seem to be working. On the same day Curlin won the World Cup in March, a South African horse, Jay Peg, won the $5 million Dubai Duty Free race in Dubai, despite being a 35-1 long shot.
